After a week, Nyx had another meeting, so she had to leave Ash with her friends, as it could be dangerous for him to stay alone at her house. Ash was unhappy about this but had no choice. Nyx took Ash to Theo's house, where Celeste, Orion, and Lucius were also present. On the way, Ash complained.

  "I truly hate this. I'm an adult, I can take care of myself, Nyx."

  Nyx replied, "Oh no, not in this world yet."

  When they arrived at Theo's house and knocked on the door, Ash muttered, "I feel like a child going to a morning care club."

  Nyx chuckled. "Oh, come on, Ash, just for a few hours."

  Ash frowned. "I don't like your friends, you know."

  Nyx sighed. "Don't act like a child. You know I can't leave you alone. What if someone breaks into the house?"

  Ash scoffed. "Who would break into your house?! You're not my mom."

  Theo opened the door, and Nyx looked at Ash before saying, "Hey, come on, I'll tell you everything that happened when I get back."

  Ash groaned. "Ugh, fine."

  Nyx smiled, and Ash quickly added, "Not for you! Just because I care about myself. I could be destroyed or eaten by you freaks!"

  Nyx's smile faded slightly, and Theo, watching from behind, looked annoyed at Ash's words. Still, Nyx maintained her composure and said, "Thanks." She then surprised Ash by hugging him. Ash was shocked, but Theo just watched silently, as if sensing this was Nyx’s end. Ash stepped inside, and just as Nyx turned to leave, Theo called her back and whispered, "Nyx, be careful."

  Nyx frowned. "What do you mean?"

  Theo hesitated, then placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just... take care."

  Nyx nodded. "Alright? See ya!"

  Theo watched her leave, murmuring to himself, "It seems like we aren't even safe in this world."

  On her way to the meeting, Nyx couldn't help but think about what Theo had said. He had always been funny and easygoing, so what had made him so worried? The thought stressed her. As she walked, she noticed something strange, there were just a few monsters outside than usual, and the town carried a strong smell of blood.

  Nyx started to wonder if this was somehow related to her. "Nah," she thought, shaking her head. "I hid Ash perfectly, and he isn't someone who could cause this much effect." But the worry gnawed at her.

  When she arrived at the meeting room, she realized she was early this time, unlike last time, there was no one else in the room except for Seraphina, the one who had called the meeting. When Seraphina turned to Nyx, something seemed terribly wrong. Her twelve eyes looked tired, her two main eyes were bulging from crying, a red stain was on her classic white dress, and her hair was a mess.

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  Seraphina tried to fix her hair quickly and said, "H-hey, Nyx."

  Nyx hesitated. "Uh, hello. Can I take a seat?"

  Seraphina, still fixing her hair, nodded quickly. "Of course, s-sure you can."

  Nyx sat beside her, sensing there’s something strange. "So, uh... how's it going?"

  Seraphina stared at her for a few seconds, looking as though Nyx had just asked something insane. Then she cleared her throat and tried to speak formally. "Just as always. You?"

  Nyx narrowed her eyes. "Seraphina? Are you alright?"

  Seraphina tensed. "Y-Yeah, Nyx. I don’t know why you are asking this."

  Before Nyx could say anything, Eva entered the room. Her hair glowing as always, she got this judicial face on, slowly looking at Nyx’s face, and grimaces her face. Nyx rolled her eyes, not suprised, "Hi to you too, Eva."

  Seraphina, forcing a polite smile, greeted her. "Hello, Eva. Please, take a seat."

  Eva rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever," before sitting in a far corner from Nyx.

  They waited in silence, except for Eva chewing gum loudly, until Bastian, Valen, Eris, and the others arrived. Bastian, Valen, and Eva were their own group, just as Nyx, Orion, Celeste, Lucius, and Theo were. Eris was Valen's sister, though Nyx never thought her as bad as Valen.

  Seraphina was stressed and acting weird for all the meeting.

  The topics were, ‘How can we stop our people from witchcrafting*(which was a topic Nyx liked) and ‘Why do people want to leave our world’ which made Bastian uncomfortable about since everyone knew he didn’t like this world and wanted to leave.

  After the meeting, the sky had darkened. Nyx decided to hang out by herself in the garden of the building, still feeling weird, in a bad way. While she was walking around the huge bush of white and looking like a fairy’s nightmare, royaly-huge garden, on the flesh left from the marriage rituals, she heard the voice of Seraphina.

  "I don't want to do this anymore. I know it's been a short time, but it hurts me to always lie to them and make them play in this deadly game. They are too young for this."

  Nyx quickly hid behind a bush that smeels like a heap of corpses, probably because it has rotten meat of rats inside, between the branches of it.

  Seraphina's voice grew louder, "Don't look at me like that!"

  Then, after a pause, "Ugh! I don’t know why you picked me for this!"

  There was a strange grumbling noise. Then Seraphina shouted, "You know what? I'm done. Go and order someone else!"

  A grumbling followed with angry voices.

  Then—

  Suddenly Nyx heard Seraphina’s painful scream.

  Nyx quickly stood up, just to see Seraphina lying on the floor with blood around her. Nyx quickly searched the area with her eyes, but there was no one around.

  "What the?!" Nyx gasped, rushing to Seraphina’s side.

  Seraphina whimpered, "Nyx, help me!"

  Nyx almost shouted, "Who did this to you?!"

  Seraphina trembled. "I-it was that brute beast!"

  "Who?!"

  "I can't tell you, Nyx—" Another scream of pain.

  Nyx, desperate, ripped part of her own top to wrap around Seraphina’s arm, trying to stop the bleeding. "Just stay here! I'll call for help!"

  She quickly ran into the building back again. And just as she was running, she noticed a black shadow running to the exit, and then left the building. Nyx was sure it was the one who attacked Seraphina.

  She wanted to run after them, but she couldn’t leave Seraphina there to death. She looked to the exit first and then to floor Seraphina’s lying on with pain, screaming in suffering angle.

  Nyx felt a tear coming from her eye, and the whole sounds around her just disappeared, but only her tear falling down.

  Nyx just stare to nowhere for seconds that felt like hours.

  When she met Ash, she thought that was the crossroad of her life, but now she realized this moment was actually what everything started.